Before I forget, to all less recent posters--I had an e-mail message this morning from our friend, Gripman, who sends his fond hello to all here. His D was finalized earlier this month, and he sounds happy. Even out doing a bit of dancing and a great dad that he is. (I miss you, Gripman.)
Merrick--I'm not ruling out Retrouvaille. It's just going to be something that will become part of our tool kit later on. Right now, we have to get the landing module back to earth safely...
As far as the money goes, it's a pretty personal thing and there is not one size fits all answer for each of us. I see benefits in pretty much any set up... My point in keeping things separate, particularly for me and Mr. W., is that it is important for each of us to feel like we have control over our lives.
And I'm not asking anyone to challenge me on my next statement, because I believe it: Money is power.
In an ideal world, it would work ideally to have a joint account where both partners had the same approach to fiscal matters. Actually, Mr. W. and I do. We're both savers and investors (though I'm a lot more risky with mine) and we both believe in cushions. I'm a little more risky with my request for purchases--for example, it was me who justified the value in buying the motor home.
Keeping a joint account did work for us--if we are only basing this on our belief system in regards to money.
But the truth of the matter is that he hated the fact that I kept the checkbook in my purse. Hey, I did all the bill paying, grocery shopping and took care of the girls and all the stuff that is required to take care of them. It wasn't that I didn't want him to have the checkbook....
But then we got into small little resentments if he went out and bought himself a new fishing reel, or if I bought myself a pair of earrings. Things we both termed as "useless" and a waste of money. Things that we felt got in our way of other financial commitments.
I don't ever want to go back to being those people again. Therefore, I don't want to put us in a spot where one of us has to justify why we want a manicure/pedicure or a new bowling ball. Asking for permission to buy a new pair of jeans makes me feel as though I'm a child and need daddy's permission. Asking permission from me to buy a new grill makes him feel like mommy controls him.
Life is too short for us to do that to each other anymore.
Not much to report about last night and his dinner with D (my boss). He called me from his cell on his way home. I had left a voicemail message for him to ask for help taking the kids on Monday (first day of spring break) because D7's arrangements fell though.
He said he would, talked to D10, and then asked her to give the phone back to me. He was very chatty and happy. He closed our convo with, "I guess I won't see you tomorrow (and sounded a little sad), so hopefully we'll talk before I bring the girls back."
D told me this morning that they pretty much discussed the golf tournament and the direction of the foundation. My 2 other board members want to call a meeting when I get back from DC to discuss how to take this forward, and they both had some great ideas.
D just walked into my office and gave me the name of a fund raiser friend of ours (Lights, she's your kind of girl--a real hoot and sweet) and told me to set an appointment with her to get her input.
So I have some work to do!
That's it for me today. It's going to be 80 degrees here today, and I want to eat lunch out in the sunshine today. That means I need to get back to work, because I have a lot of work to do before I leave here on Tuesday.
Take care all,
Betsey
"There are only 2 ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle."
